One Last Chance
by Marie Adama
Summary: chapter 3 is up. Kara and Lee are in desert planet searching for water...and things make them remember what happened in NC. KL AU fic
1. Chapter 1

Author: Marie Adama

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Characters of Battlestar Galactica. This just for fun.

Spoiler: Take place during the boxing match of Unfinished Business. And it bases in the promo pics that I saw and some previews.

Author's note: Thanks to AmyThrace for been my beta, thank you very much.

One last Chance  
Chapter 1  
"Lead me to the light"

Lee was walking towards the gym slowly. Tonight was boxing night, which means that the entire gym will be transformed into a boxing arena crowded with people ready to bet on who will win the next fight. He smiled to himself, tonight was the revenge match between him and Helo and he was determined to win, after all the last time that they had fought he still wasn't in shape, so now he wanted revenge and his honor back. He still could not believe that the only one who had bet in his favor during the previous fight had been Hot Dog.

He had forgotten how much he enjoyed these boxing matches; after all he had spent the last year practically doing nothing. He had forgotten how good it felt to let loose all the pressure throwing punches, instead of sitting in his quarters whining. And he got to thank Helo and his father for that rediscovery. During the last year he and Helo had become close friends; they had met each other before the attacks and served together since he had got back from Caprica, but it was during the last year that they had become true friends. After everyone else left they started to talk to each other, not that they talked much, but he knew that now Helo was the only one he could count on beside his father. He never asked the annoying questions that anyone else would ask but knew what he had went through, maybe because he knew her, maybe because he knew both of them, maybe because he was just Helo.  
And that was probably the reason why he had been so upset with him after what had happened to the Cylon prisoners; he knew for sure that Helo had something to do with their deaths and even while he understood the moral dilemma that was implied with the decision his father and the president had made, he knew that Helo's decision was beyond the moral dilemma, it was because he loved Athena. Lee didn't understand how he could love her, but he did and apparently so does she. After all who was him to judge people about who you fall in love with?

And just like that his entire body tensed up, it was as if he was hit by an electrical discharge. Lee stood up still before crossing the hatch that connected the hallway with the officer's quarters with the hallway that lead to the gym. There she was, all wrapped up against Anders, walking clumsily because they couldn't see where they were going, kissing at each other, hands wrapped against each other. Anders opened the hatch that lead towards Kara's quarters and he could hear a loud laugh from Kara when he tripped against the hatch while trying to remove her tank. Then the metallic noise of the Hatch closing and silence surrounded the hallway again.

Lee stood there, fists tight with anger. He was angry with himself, angry because he was still letting her affect him. Why he still, after more than year, felt that his blood boiled every time that he watched her and Anders together, he didn't know. Why he still couldn't erase the words that she had said to him the last time that they had meet in New Caprica, why every time that he heard her voice, all he could hear were those words over and over again, not that they had talk much since she got back, he didn't know. The only time that they had exchanged some words were only because their jobs required them to, he was just a CAG and she was just one of his pilots. And as far she was from him the better.  
He shook his head trying to clear his mind, he didn't want to think of her, he had lost last year doing that, now he had a boxing match to deal with and maybe he will win it after all.

When he entered the gym, the place was already crowded and the current fight had just finished and some marines were celebrating. He placed his sports bag on a bench and started to walk towards the ring. There he saw Helo who was next to Sharon, Racetrack and Hot Dog in a corner laughing. Helo caught his glance and looked at him back; Lee just nodded at him and took off the jacket of his duty uniform.  
Helo climbed up to the boxing ring with Lee; they looked at each other defiantly, placed the boxing gloves on and they were ready for the fight to start. Helo somehow reminded him of the way that his father fought, always calm, always looking at him and expecting what he was about to do. He looked at Helo scanning him trying to figure out what his next move is(was) going to be, strategizing on what to do next, how he should move to win.  
He threw a few punches that hurt Helo, but before he could notice it Helo punched him back strongly on the face and suddenly he was brought back to that day in New Caprica: he could see Kara's smiling face mocking him, right there in the boxing ring and all he wanted to do was hit her, to erase that smile from her face. So he start punching Helo pretending that it was her, but with every punch that he threw at Helo the more desperate he felt, and the more he started to remember that day that he had promised to himself that he would not remember again and it hurt.  
He wanted to let it go, to be back in the match and forget about it but every time that Helo punched him he remembered something else from that day, and he finally lost it, he was trapped in memories and all he wanted to do was have the match end, to knock Hello down and just get away from there, but he knew that no matter what he did he just wouldn't be able to let those memories go, to forget her.  
All of a sudden he found himself on the floor and everything around him turned black for a second. Finally all the memories went away. The next thing he knew Helo was offering him his hand to help him stand up.  
"Are you ok Apollo?" Helo asked once Lee started to stand.  
"I'm fine," Lee said coldly and stood up.  
"Are you sure Apollo, you weren't too into the fight at the end," Helo said and Lee just looked at him.  
"Like I said I'm fine," He said and smiled at him, one of his fabricated smiles that he used when he wanted to pretend that everything was ok.  
"Sure," Helo said reading through his smile. "Maybe next time Apollo, all you gotta do is not over think the fight, just let your instinct take over," Helo added and punched Lee in the arm.  
"My father always said the same," Lee said dryly.  
"The old man is a wise man," Helo said and walked away towards Sharon's direction. She held and kissed him smiling. A few seconds later he was surrounded by raptors pilots who were congratulating him.

Lee stepped down from the ring and stood there still a little affected by Helo's effective knock out.  
"What happened Apollo, got your kicked?" He heard her next to him and it was as if he was knocked out again; it was her. She stood next to him at the opposite side of the ring. He tightened his fists and ignored her. He was tempted to go, but something inside him made him stay, if there was someone who shouldn't be there that was her.  
Kara looked away from him and concentrated on the current fight, Kat was fighting with a new girl from maintenance and things didn't look good for Kat.  
"Oh frak me Kat, punch her! You are not a priest from Geminon, punch her!" Kara yelled to Kat.

Lee entire body tightened as he pretended not to hear her. He placed his arms on the ropes of the ring and started cheering Kat, who was avoiding her opponents fast movements and powerful right hook.  
"Come on Kat!" Kara yelled and in that moment Kat effectively punch her opponent in the stomach and made her take a few steps back.  
"Finish her, Kat! Come on don't make me lose the money I put on you! For frak's sake punch her," Kara yelled again.  
"Why don't you shut up Starbuck," Lee said looking at her by the corner of his eyes.  
"Sorry, I didn't want to disturb the CAG," she answered in her typical Starbuck manner without looking at him.  
"Shouldn't you be frakking your husband?" he said clenching his teeth.  
"I already did that," She said with a triumphant smile.  
Lee just looked at her and smiled sarcastically, then lowered his gaze and look at his hand, avoiding her.  
"So where's the pet, sorry, wife. Why isn't she here licking your wounds?" she said pointing at Lee's bloody eyebrow.  
"Don't you dare talk about Ana," Lee said threateningly.  
"Or what? Are you going to spank me?" she said raising an eyebrow.  
"I might," He said standing right in front of her.  
"Wow, that will be interesting, you trying to kick my ," she said mockingly.  
"You think I'm not capable of doing it?" He asked getting closer to her.  
"You can try; another thing is that you actually can."  
"Right cause you are the all mighty Starbuck, aren't you?"  
"Yeah I am."  
"I'm not afraid of you Starbuck, and you are not as all mighty as you think."  
"Really?" She said and looked at the ring, where the maintenance girl had just knocked out Kat. "So why don't you prove it?" she said and took off her shirt. "Why don't you prove to me that you are not afraid of me Apollo?" she said challenging him, punching him in the shoulder threateningly.  
Lee just look at her, he knew how dangerous it was for him to accept her challenge. He knew that she could win and that would be even worse, but he also knew that there was no way that he would turn down that challenge.  
"You want a fight Captain? You got it!" He said trying to control his anger but unable to, and he started to climb into the ring.

Once they were ready, they started to walk in circles around each other, looking at each other eyes defiantly while the crowd cheered eachother names.  
"Come on Apollo, are you scared?" she asked.  
"Of you?" he said with disdain.  
"Come on don't be scared I might let you punch me once," she said and winked at him. That gesture was as if someone had started a spark and now there was fire running through his veins. He moved faster and threw a punch that hit her directly over her right cheek, making her take a step back.  
"Was that too fast for you Starbuck?" he asked in her same tone of voice. She just smiled at him.  
"That's all you got Apollo?" she asked once she was straight on her feet again.  
"No, it's not," he answered, and the more she circled him, the angrier he felt.  
"Then bring it," she said and moved her arms away from her body challenging him to punch her. "Or did all the R&R time while you where commanding the Pegasus make you all soft?" she said and it only took that for Lee to move forward to her to try to punch her, but she saw his movements and punched him before he could touch her. She punched him hard, right to the stomach first and later to his face.  
"I told you, you are no match for Starbuck," she said when she stepped back to catch some air.  
"Shut the frak up," Lee said and started to move around her.  
"Make me," she said and started throwing punches at him, which he avoided.  
"What, all of a sudden you don't talk Starbuck?" he mocked after a couple of minutes of silence, while they both danced around each other throwing and avoiding punches.  
"No, I was saving myself for this," she said and hit him on the cheekbone, making him step back.  
"You are so transparent Apollo," she laughed and before she could do anything Lee punched her back right in the nose, making it bleed immediately.  
"You frakkin…"Kara said and covered her nose.  
"What? The all mighty Starbuck bleed?" he asked and started walking around her. "Do you want to get out of it? Was it too much for you?" he added mockingly.  
"If you believe that just a punch in the nose is going to stop me, you are so wrong," she said, and started to move closer to him, throwing occasional punches at him.  
"Really?"  
"Yeah, You see the problem with you Apollo is that you are never going to win me, because I can see right through you and I know how to use that." she said with her typical Starbuck mocking, and it was as if his brain was disconnected from the match. All of a sudden they were back on New Caprica, he was holding her in his arms and she was laughing "_What? You think I didn't know that you love me? Of course I knew, you are so transparent Lee. That's why I came to you, because, because I needed to get you out of my system and I knew that you wouldn't say no. As hard as it is, I used you Lee and deep down you always knew it."_ Her words rang in his mind and all the anger, all the pain, everything came back to him and he lost it, he finally did what everyone always kept telling him to do, he let his instinct take over, he wanted revenge, he wanted to hurt her even if it was in a physical way, he wanted to make her pay for what she had done to him.  
Kara looked at him and saw his face change; she knew that she had hurt him again. And that was what she was looking for, she wanted him to be angry with her, she wanted him to hurt her for what she had done to him. She wanted to be hurt, she wanted to feel anything, anything even if it was pain; she had been numb ever since she had gotten back, she was in this limbo. She was totally lost, unable to feel anything but that she was lost and alone. She had just slept with Anders and even then she hadn't feel a thing, she thought that that was what she needed, to feel physical pleasure, but it wasn't.  
Before she could even react on instinct Lee was over her punching her, not letting her defend herself; she had never seen Lee like this, he was totally out of control; and only then did she understand how much she had hurt him then, how much she deserved to be punched like he was doing right now.  
Lee stopped punching her only to take a step back and look at her, and he saw a half smile on her face as if she was enjoying the feeling of been hit, and that made his anger grow even bigger and before his mind could make a rational thought he found himself punching Kara with all his strength right in the face, making her turn around and fall over the ropes like dead weight.  
She slid from the ropes to the floor and the entire gym remained silent, and then everything happened in fast motion to Lee. Gaeta jumped to the ring with the medic kit while Tigh moved closer to Kara to wait for her to react. And he, he just stood there watching what had happened, waiting for her to be okay. What had happened to him? He shouldn't have hit her the way he did, he knew he shouldn't. But he was so anger at her, so hurt, he couldn't help it. She deserved what he had done to her, but he couldn't help but to be worried for her, he couldn't avoid the desire of wanting to go where she was and hold her in his arms and make sure that she was alright. After all that happened between them he couldn't stop feeling the way he felt about her.  
Finally he stood closer to her, to check on her, as she slowly took seat while Gaeta handed her an ice pack.  
"Take it easy Starbuck," Tigh said helping her to sit.  
"I'm fine," she said stubbornly, and tried to fix her gaze; all that she saw was the blurry image of Lee coming closer to her.  
"How many fingers do you see Starbuck?" Gaeta asked, showing her two fingers.  
"Two fraking fingers, I told you I'm fine," she said and tried to stand up, but she felt dizzy and had to search for support from the ropes of the ring.  
"Are you ok?" Lee asked softly when he was close enough.  
"I'm frakkin fine, as if you care," she said bitterly.  
"You're right I don't care I don't even know why I asked," he said and the anger could be heard in his voice.  
"Yeah I don't know why, so why don't you leave me alone."  
"Don't worry it will be my pleasure," he said coldly.  
"It should be, after all that's what you do better run away."  
"Come again?" he said and turned in her direction and looked at her right into the eyes, threatening, but she moved closer to him and faced him.  
"You hear me well; running away is your specialty, that's what you do best, you run away. You did with Gianne and you did it with the people who were on New Caprica, you ran away and left all those people behind"  
"You crossed the line there Starbuck," Lee said and felt all the anger run through his veins again.  
"Did I touch a sensitive spot?" she said defiantly.  
"Clear the room," Lee said loudly enough for the people that were around the boxing ring to hear him.  
"But Sir…" Gaeta was saying when Lee interrupted him.  
"I said clear the room!" he said coldly, without taking his eyes away from Kara's gaze.  
"You here the man, clear the room," Tigh replied and started to walk away from them.  
Once they were alone Kara arched an eyebrow and looked at him. "What are you going to do now punch me?"  
"I already did that." he answered, getting closer to her, saying the last words so close to her that she could feel him breathing.  
"What? Are you going to lecture me and then send me to the brig?"  
"I might, after all you seem to enjoy spending time in a box. Wasn't that what you did the last 4 month on New Caprica?" He said. And after he finished the sentence he knew he had gone too far.  
"You frakking son of …"Kara was saying when she jumped over him and started to punch him on the stomach and the ribs.  
"How dare you, you frakking bas….!" She said voice full of anger while she remembered her 4 moths held prisoner by Leoben. "You have no idea of what I went through," Kara felt the despair that she felt while she was prisoner there, the fear, the sense of hopeless, and that made her punch him even harder.  
"I was left there, I was alone, no one came, I was alone…alone…you left me," she said and the anger was mixed now with the hurt in her voice and Lee could feel it, the hurt in her voice, the pain she felt hurt him as if his heart was being squeezed and all he could do was hold her.  
"It was four months, four months and no one came," she said and she kept punching him, but she had no strength left, all her strength was focused on trying to hold the tears in.  
"You should have rescued me, you always rescue me but you never showed up, you left me there, you ran away and I waited every day for you to rescue me," she said and she could no longer hold her tears back and started to sob. She didn't know why she was blaming him for having been Leoben's prisoner, for not rescuing her. She had no right to do that, if someone should have rescued her that should have been Sam, not Lee, not after all she had done to him. But she couldn't help it, because the only one that had always been her rescuer when she was going through her darkest moments had been him, he was the only one she always expected to cross the door of her cell, the only one who she would pray for, every time she looked at the door, to rescue her.  
"And he played with my head and I no longer know who I am, I don't know what to do, I can't…" she said but the sobs didn't let her talk and her knees start to tremble.  
Lee could feel the tears start to fill his eyes and how she was shaking under his arms. He held her tight, as if with that hug he could show her that he was there, that he would not run away.  
"I didn't know…I didn't know," he barely whispered. "If I would have known I would have never left, I would have come back."  
"But you didn't, I waited and I waited until I knew that you would never come, until I realized that he had won. He broke me, he broke me." Kara's words were barely articulate between sobs and her legs weren't able to support her weight anymore, and as if she were a rag doll she fell onto her knees to the floor taking Lee with her.  
"Kara…" was all that he could say, he just couldn't find the words to finish his sentence. He held her strongly and kissed her hair tenderly.  
"He broke me, and now I don't know where I belong, I don't know who I am…he took everything away from he, he…he should have killed me, I'm lost…I have never been more lost than I am now and I don't know what to do, I don't…" she just couldn't talk anymore, the sobs where so strong that her entire body was shaking and so was Lee.  
They remained there, holding on to each other in the middle of the boxing ring. Lee had never seen Kara cry this way, just the fact that he was watching her in his arms so fragile, so vulnerable, so lost, it broke his heart so deeply in a way that he thought his heart would never be broken, for that woman who had broken his heart in so many ways. He wished there was something that he could do to comfort her, but he knew there was nothing that he could do, there was nothing that he could say. He should have been there, he should have rescued her, he should have taken care of her.  
When Kara stopped crying, she remained in Lee's arms unable to figure out what she should do next; she felt so safe in his arms, she had always felt safe in his arms, she knew that nothing bad could happen to her while she was with him, she knew that in his arms she didn't feel lost…but that wasn't her place to be, she had pushed him away and as safe as she felt in his arms, she knew that it wasn't safe for him, she would hurt him again, she always did.  
So she separated from him, avoiding his gaze, and in the moment that she let him go she felt lost again, she felt the despair take over her again.

They remain there sitting on the floor, without looking at each other, without moving; they were just there, side by side, together, until Kara slowly put one hand behind her neck and bent her head a little bit.  
"Are you ok?" Lee asked softly.  
"My head, I don't think that getting knocked out and then crying my lungs out is a good combination," she said quietly. They remained in silence again until Lee couldn't help it any more, and started to laugh. It only took Kara a second and she was laughing with him; they were laughing the way they hadn't laughed in more than a year, they were just them, Kara and Lee, like the old times, laughing about a thing that no one else would understand.  
"I'm sorry it's just that…" Lee was trying to articulate and then started to laugh again. "It's just I never imagined that you could use those words in the same sentence, especially not when talking about yourself."  
"Hey, I was punched ok, I lost consciousness for a while. This could be the frakking result of a concussion," she said between laughs. "My brain is not functioning very well."  
"I thought that we agreed a long time ago that you didn't have a brain."  
"Right," she said and looked at him as if she agreed with what he had said to only punch him in the ribs a second later.  
"Hey watch the ribs; I believe that you actually broke one."  
"Ha! You are such a whiny baby," she teased him.  
"Do you realize that people outside are thinking that only one of us is going to leave this room alive?"  
"I know," she said and gave him an evil grin. "How much longer do you think we should make them wait until they start to really get worried?"  
"Kara!" Lee said and shook his head.  
"Come on! It will be fun. I'm almost sure that someone already dragged Cottle here."  
"Now if you put it that way... it's always fun to make him angry."  
"See, that's the spirit," she said and slapped him softly on the back.  
"You're crazy," he said, rolling his eyes.  
"I know, thanks, everyone has a skill," she said and winked at him and they both started to laugh again.  
When they stopped laughing Kara went for the ice pack that Gaeta had given her earlier, placing it where Lee had punched her.  
"It really hurts uh?" he asked feeling guilty.  
"A little bit but I'll be fine," she said carelessly.  
"I know," he said smiling to her.  
"I guess" she said and shrank her shoulders, looking to the ground again.  
"Hey," Lee said and moved forward to her and put one of his hands over the hand she had placed over the ice pack. "You'll be fine, I'll make sure of that," he said looking at her deeply in the eyes. Why he was making her this promise he didn't know, he just had to.  
Kara looked at him back and let herself get lost in his piercing blue eyes; she wanted so much to hold him, to feel safe again in his arms. But she couldn't, it just wasn't right for so many reason. So she just smiled at him, knowing that he will keep his promise, he will take care of her as he always did. Knowing that she didn't deserves it.  
"I think we should get going, people must be worried outside," Kara finally said and stood up.  
"Sure," Lee said and tried to stand up but stopped in the middle of it.  
"You ok?" she asked looking at him with concern.  
"I really think that you broke a rib," he said when he finally stood up and placed one hand on his ribs.  
"You're such a baby," she complained trying to hide her concern.  
"I'm not the one with the ice pack on my face," he said raising an eyebrow and they both started to laugh again.  
"We do have a twisted way to fix our problems don't we?" Kara said and looked at him.  
"Yes we do," Lee said and picked up is bag. "But I wouldn't want it any other way."  
"Neither would I," she said, and stood in front of the gym hatch.  
"Should we?" He asked before opening the door. Kara touched his hand to stopping him from open the hatch.  
"Thanks," she said almost in whisper. Lee looked at her knowing that there was something else behind that simple thanks but he just wasn't ready to deal with that yet, so he pretended that he hadn't understood her.  
"For punching you? My pleasure," he answered her teasingly and they laughed. Finally Lee opened the hatch and everyone who was on the gym earlier was crowded outside. As soon as the hatch opened they remained in silence and the surprise in their face was too obvious when they saw Lee and Kara laughing together.  
"Kara are you ok?" the voice of Anders sounded from the middle of the crowd and suddenly he was next to Kara taking her face in his hands. "Kara, frakking gods look at your face, you are bleeding."  
"I'm fine," Kara said and moved away from him.  
"Did he do this to you?" Sam said and looked at Lee who was starting to get away. "Hey! Did you this to her?" Anders yelled at Lee, Lee turned into his direction annoyed.  
"Sam," Kara said and grabbed him strongly by the arm.  
"Kara look what he did to you," Anders said with a mixture of anger and surprise.  
"We were boxing and I don't need your protection, I can take of myself pretty well," Kara said and started to walk away from him. "For frak sake I'm not a child any more," she mumbles when she passed next to Lee, disappearing in the hallways.  
Lee watched her disappear and then started to walk in the opposite direction, toward his quarters. He wanted to turn, to check up on her, but he didn't. It wasn't like he had forgotten her for what she did to him on New Caprica, it was just that he didn't hate her anymore. And that somehow brought such a relief to him.  
He never will stop being surprised by how this woman made him went from one emotion to the exact opposite, he just didn't know, but she always did it. He had entered the gym hating her and now he could not shake this desire to protect her, to be there for her. He had never imagined that it was him who she was waiting for to rescue her while she was a Cylon prisoner, but then again he always rescued her. If only he had known, if only he had been there to protect her, to save her from being held prisoner…if only things had been different that night on New Caprica…  
His mind was filled with thoughts, with emotions, with confusion but there was one thing clear to him, it didn't matter how much he tried to disguise his feelings, there was only one clear thing in his life and that was that no matter what he will always love Kara, his hate towards her was just to disguise his love for her, but they will never be together…it just wasn't their destiny.

Kara entered her quarters and threw herself into her rack. She turned to face the wall and curled up. She didn't feel that lost again, now she felt guilty. Guilty because inevitably she had drug Lee near to her again, and she didn't deserve that. It's just that she needed him so much; it was different when she was on New Caprica and he was on Pegasus, she never saw him then. Now, seeing him everyday and being that close and yet so far, it was just killing her. And she knew she was being selfish, she knew that he was better without her, he was fine with Dualla, she was the right kind of girl for him. Not her, she had always known that, that's why she had never allowed herself to admit what she felt for him.  
Until that night on New Caprica, until that night when for the first time in her life she felt truly complete and happy, when she finally admitted that Lee Adama was the man that she had always loved, the only one that she could ever love and she loved him so much… so much that she had to let him go.  
She will hurt him, she will end up destroying everything that was good between them, she will end up destroying him. And she loved him so much that she just couldn't let that happen. Maybe if he didn't love her back things would have been easier, but he loved her back and it was going to be his death sentence. No, she couldn't let that happen, so she broke his heart then, before things went deeper, before she just couldn't drive him away. She had broken his heart and made sure that he would not come back for her, because if he did she wouldn't be able to say no.  
She had turned the happiest day of her life into the saddest one, and she didn't regret it. She had saved him.

"Kara!!!!"  
Lee wake up from a jump in his bed, all covered in sweat. It was his own voice screaming her name what woke him up. He could still feel his heart beating fast and the fear and sadness that filled his heart, the despair that he felt was so strong that it was physically hurting him. It took him several moments to realize that it has been a dream.  
"Are you ok?" he heard the voice of Dualla next to him; she placed one of her hands on his back.  
"Yes, I just had a nightmare," he said avoiding her and stood up.  
"A nightmare about her?" she asked, the last words fill with distrust.  
"It was just a nightmare," Lee said and entered the bathroom to wash his face.  
The last time that he had a nightmare like this one, a nightmare that was so vivid that he still felt the goose bumps run along his spine it has been the night before Zack's death. He had woken up that night with this same feeling running through his body, but unable to realize what it was until that afternoon, when the phone of his quarters had rung. He didn't have to answer the phone he already knew that Zack was dead. Lee shook his head, _it was just a silly dream, just that,_ he said to himself but he couldn't shake the feeling away.  
Suddenly the phone rang and he leave the bathroom.  
"It's for you," Dualla said and handed him the phone.  
"Adama," he said.  
"Son, we found it, we found a planet that has the water that we were searching for, scramble a team you are going down to supervise security," Adama said. Lee remained in silence for a while. "Did you hear me, Lee?" Adama asked.  
"Yes, I hear you. I'll be in CIC in a half our for the details," he said quietly.  
"Fine," Adama said and hung up.  
"What happened?" Dualla asked once he hung up the phone.  
"We found water," Lee said and started to get dress.

To be continued….

I hope you have enjoy this fic, I'll be waiting for reviews


	2. Chapter 2

Author: Marie Adama 

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Characters of Battlestar Galactica. This just for fun.

Spoiler: AU Kara and Lee are in a desert planet searching for water, while the ops take place they start to remember that night in NC.

Author's note: Thanks to Squirrely for been my beta, thank you very much.

One last Chance  
Chapter 2  
"Fighting the memories"

Lee left his tent annoyed. He took a few steps away from it and took a deep breath. How had he gotten into this, he questioned to himself and started to remember how everything had happened in fast motion after the call from his father the night before. His father had asked him to scramble a team to supervise water operations and since they were short of marines Tigh came with the brilliant idea of using resistance fighters to do the job. So here he was, on this planet that looks more like a desert moon than a planet, supervising deep water extraction and coordinating with Anders the deployment of the resistance fighters. But that wasn't all, he had acted on instinct once again in less than two weeks and asked Kara to be on the planet with him, when he knew very well that the logical option was for her to take his post as CAG on Galactica. But he wanted her with him and what pissed him off is that he was acting based on a dream, a stupid dream, but he couldn't take any more risks not now. Not after being so close to loose her in New Caprica, not after finding out what truly had happen to her there, he had promised her that he would watch up for her and that's what he was going to do. Even if that meant that he will have to watch her all cozy with her husband so be it, he want it her close where he could protect her.

And now this, his wife had jumped into the operation at the last minute. She wasn't supposed to be on the planet she didn't have the field experience, but they needed a communication officer and she had volunteered to be that one, and it didn't matter how much he had disagreed with her decision to volunteer nothing would make her step out from the raptor that was taking him to the planet. And he knew very well that it has nothing to do with the fact that she was a communication officer it has more to do with the fact that he will be working side by side with Kara. Anastasia had leave that pretty clear in the recent argument that they had.

Lee took another deep breath and started to walk towards the edge of the camp, trying to clear his mind. How would he manage to take care of them both, of Kara and Anastasia. He was walking when suddenly he hear the unmistakable voice of Kara.

"Fine what ever" She said and walk away from her own tent looking angry. He just looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

Kara caught his gaze and looked at him back in the same way that he was looking at her. Then she started to walk towards him.

"What?" she asked annoyed.

"Nothing, I haven't say a thing" He said looking innocent. Which makes her look at him even more upset. "The black in your eyes is going down" He finally said.

"Right" she said annoyed and then looked at him "how's the rib?" she asked crossing he arms around her chest.

"Fine, Cottle said it was more painful than harmful" Lee answered and they both look at the mountains that were outside the camp and started to walk in their direction with out saying a word.

"Marriage sucks" Kara said finally.

"Tell me about it" Lee stated without looking at her.

"Who's the brilliant mind behind putting Sam in charge of civilian ops?" She asked annoyed.

"Hey don't look at me" He said and raised his hands in innocence "that was Tigh's idea"

"I'll poke his other eye out as soon as we get back on Galactica" She said angry and after a while they both laughed.

"Good luck with that" he said with a smile.

"Right" she said and look at Lee's tent "So problems in paradise?" she asked with caution.

"What paradise?" Lee said sarcastically. "She shouldn't be here" He finally said.

"Neither should Sam"

"Yeah but you don't need to take care of Sam"

"You don't need to take care of Dee either, she's a soldier" Kara said and couldn't avoid a frown.

"I know it's just …" He said and shrunk his shoulders.

"I know" she said and looked away. "How long do you think we should stay here?" she asked changing the subject.

"I don't know, two more days. We need to find another water seam but we already have 50 of the water that we need."

"That's great I can't wait to leave this planet…it's kinda depressing" Kara said looking around.

"I know, in a way it reminds me of New Caprica" He said frowning.

"You're right. But the weather here's like hell"

"No kidding, it was hot as hell today"

"Yeah only that hell freezes at night" Kara said and shuddered. Who like Lee was only wearing her tank tops and her camouflage pants.

"Are you cold?" Lee asked and moved closer to her and with out thinking he rubbed her arms with his hands tenderly to bring some warmth to her. Kara looked at him confused and as soon as their eyes met, he knew he had made a mistake.

And inevitably he was drawn to memories that he had locked in his brain at all cost.

_Flashback_

"_Kara Thrace loves Lee Adama" she screamed._

Her contagious smile could be heard in the silence of the night, then she turns in his direction still smiling and making him smile. His heart was beating so fast after hearing her scream that she loved him back that all he could do was kiss her with passion and tenderness. He was beyond happy.

"_Are you cold?" Lee asked when he stopped kissing her and he noticed that she was shivering in his arms._

"_A little bit" Kara answered looking at him in the eyes biting her lower lip. He rubbed his hands around her arms to keep her warm._

"_Better?" Lee asked and when Kara frowned he softly kiss her in the forehead and hugged her tight. _

"_This is better" she said and hugged him back, their naked bodies in touch again._

"_I know" he said and softly kissed he._

_Slowly they fell onto the floor again and remained hugging each other looking at the sky._

"_Did I just scream to the sky that I love you?" Lee asked looking at her in the eyes._

"_Yes you did" She nodded resting her chin in his chest to look at him better._

"_I do love you" He said and tenderly placed one hand on her face._

"_I know" She said and kissed him softly._

_He hugged her back when they broke the kiss and looked at the sky again "Are you still cold?"_

"_No, not any more" she said and hugged him tight and kissed him in the neck. They remained holding onto each other in silence until she said._

"_Don't you find it weird to be here looking at the sky and not be in the sky flying" She finished and he sank his nose in her hair._

"_Yeah it's very weird, watching the stars and not being around them" he said and looked at the sky._

"_The thing I'll miss the most about quit flying will be not flying with you again" she confessed in a whisper._

"_I miss flying with you too, I miss how we connected in the sky"_

"_How we don't need to talk, don't need a plan we just are in the sky"_

"_We became one in the sky…like those stars over there" He said and pointed at the sky._

"_What those over there? It's only one" Kara said. _

"_No there's two" Lee pointed out and Kara look at him in disbelief and then back at the shy._

"_No it's just…you're right there's two" She added with surprise._

"_They are so close that you think there's only one" He said and looked at her in the eyes._

"_Just like Starbuck and Apollo when they are flying together, we are one, we always have been one" she said and kissed him tenderly, with love._

_end flashback_

The touch of his hands in her bare arms was like an electricity bolt, she couldn't avoid a shiver when her gaze met his, and she knew that he was remembering too.

"I'm sorry" Lee said and stepped away from her so fast that the loss of the touch of his hands on her skin was almost painful.

"I'm…" she could barely articulate but didn't know what to say.

"I think I'll better go, tomorrow will be a long day" He said with out looking at her.

"Yes it will be a long day" She added and looked at the floor.

"Well …goodnight" he said looking at the ground too and slowly started to walk away.

"Night" Kara said and when he was far enough she raised her eyes form the ground and looked at him. Then she look at the sky trying to search for two stars…they weren't the same stars that she saw that night, but they were almost that close and she couldn't help remembering.

_Flashback_

"_Just like Starbuck and Apollo when they are flying together, we are one we always have been one" she said and kissed him tenderly, with love. With all the love that she had fought for so long._

"_Just like Starbuck and Apollo" He said and kissed her back._

"_Yes, because there's no Starbuck with out Apollo" she said feeling her heart beat faster, looking at him in the eyes._

"_And there's no Apollo with out Starbuck" he said and she kissed him. He moved slowly until her back was resting on the ground and he was looking at her in the eyes resting his weight in his elbows._

"_But now we are not Starbuck or Apollo" she said._

"_No, we are just Kara and Lee…and I don't care anything else I just want it to be with you Kara" He said and placde one hand in her face " I love you so much" _

_She look at him and saw how honest he was, she could see that he was right there with her and that he really loved her, that he didn't want to have just a quick lay with her, that it wasn't a game. He truly love her and for a moment she didn't feel a screw up anymore, she didn't feel that she didn't deserve to be loved because she loved him back in the same way._

_He smile at her, noticing the look in her eyes and they kissed._

_end flashback_

He look back against his will, but he couldn't help it and there she was looking at the sky. He follow the direction of her gaze and found two stars in the sky that were almost as close as the one in New Cparica.

"_There's no Starbuck with out Apollo"_ he remembered her saying and couldn't avoid the pain in his chest. Yes there was, there could be a Starbuck without Apollo and so could be a Kara without him. But it was nice to believe even if it was for a couple of hours that she needed him as much as he needed her.

He turned away from her, he didn't want to think in that.

Kara look at him turning away, and she shook her head. She had made the decision to leave him and she didn't regret it, it has been for his own good. But as much as she act like she didn't care, she couldn't take the fact of hurting him the way she did and she knew very well that the time would come when she would have to explain her actions to him.

If only she could used the Starbuck mask again like she did that day in New Caprica… but now she couldn't, not after all she went trough, she didn't have the strength and what was worst she needed him, she had realized that no matter what he was the only one that she could not lose, the only one that she could not live without.

Lee woke up even before the sun rose; he went to the command center to plan the search of a new source of water and checked everything related with the ops in the planet. Sooner than what he would have liked Dee had joined him, he explained the ops to her and put her in charge to deal with the resistance fighters and Kara while he supervised the water extraction ops with the Chief.

He was about to enter the tent where the central command was when he heard Kara said annoyingly "I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing it for him" and before he noticed, she passed almost over him in her way out of the tent.

"I'll meet you at the edge of the camp with Sam and the others" She said as she almost crushed against him.

"Sure" Lee said confused and then Dee went out of the tent, she gave a weird look at Kara and placed her bullet proof vest on.

"We should get going" Dee said.

"I know, everything is set" Lee said and couldn't avoid a frown. He put on his own bullet proof vest and started to walk towards the edge of the camp.

"Team one will go ahead, team two in the read guard and team three will go with me in the middle" Dee said when Lee arrived to where everyone was.

"Wait a minute, I'm on team two!" Kara said and stepped closer to Dee.

"Yes you are, and that means that you are on the rear guard" Dee answered raising an eyebrow.

"Are you fraking kidding me?" Kara asked sarcastically and gave a quizzical look to Lee.

"No I order that, you should be on the rear guard" Lee said coldly.

"I'm the best shooter you've got, I should be up front with you" Kara said upset.

"I need you on the back" Lee lied, he wanted her there because it was the safest place she could be and still be part of the op without raising suspicion.

"This is…" Kara was saying annoyed when Lee interrupted her.

"This is an order Captain not a suggestion" Lee said seriously. Kara looked at him defiant but when he didn't even blink she just tightened her jaw and took her position in the rear guard with Sam.

They walked almost all morning until one of the marines that were with Dee finally said the words they had been waiting for. They had found water and they needed to establish the security perimeter before calling the Chief and the rest of the extraction team.

Kara established the perimeter with the resistance fighters while Lee did the same with the military personnel and Dee started to call the Chief once everything was set.

Lee approached Kara and Sam who were laughing at the edge of the perimeter.

"Major" Kara said abruptly stopping her laughs and looking at him seriously.

"Captain" Lee said looking at her in the eyes and then he continued "the Chief is already on his way, once he arrives we will have to move over here" showing Kara the map that he was holding "The civilians will set a surveillance post here where the canyon ends, the marines will guard the perimeter from the hills and we will establish the communication center over here."

"Isn't that a little bit risky?" Kara asked.

"I need the marines guarding the Chief, I can't risk them there"

"But you can risk the civilians" Sam said sarcastically.

"I'm not risking anybody. The end of the canyon is the best place for you and your guerrilla tactics" Lee said annoyed.

"Right, because we are expendable not like your marines" Sam said and stepped closer to Lee.

"What are you trying to say?" Lee said and stepped closer to him.

"You know very well what I said" Sam said defiant.

"I didn't ask you to come here, you came here as a volunteer so you are free to go if you think I'm putting your life at risk just because I want to" Lee answered and when he finished he was almost yelling in Sam's face.

"Who the frak do you think you are to…" Sam was yelling back to Lee when Kara stepped between them.

"Boys, boys" she said and looked at Sam in the eyes "Sam the Major is right, this is the best place for you and the resistance fighters, it is the safest and no one's life is more important than another, there aren't many of us left so every life counts."

Sam looked at her in the eyes for a minute "Of course "The Major" is right, isn't he?. You know what? frak this" He said and started to walk away.

Kara turned and looked at Lee, he looked back at her and made a barely noticeable nod, which made Kara start to walk in Sam's direction.

Lee looked at her grab Sam's arm and started talking to him and immediately the awkward sensation in his stomach reappeared, he looked at the ground and took a deep breath and started walking towards the marines, he had only gave a few steps when suddenly everything turned into chaos.

"Down, down! DOWN!" Lee screamed when he heard the shots and the explosion started to fill the place.

Kara covered herself behind a rock with Sam and Lee moved a little ahead of them taking cover behind another rock. He looked at Kara and made her a few signs letting her know that we was going to where Dee was.

Kara nodded at him and took her side arm and started to fire cover fire for Lee. She continued moving while Sam followed her to the center of the site, where there was a rock formation. When her gun was out of bullets she screamed at Sam "Ammo!"

"What?" Sam asked.

"Ammo!" Kara screamed annoyed. But when she realized that he hadn't understood what she was saying she took Sam's side arm and look at him in the eyes angrily.

"Sorry I didn't hear…" he was speaking but Kara didn't even pay attention to him.

Lee met in the middle of the way with Dee and the marines that were protecting her.

"Take her to the rocks" Lee screamed and keep moving towards the hill.

"Where are you going?" Dee asked scared.

"We need to warn the rest about the attack." Lee said and shoot his gun towards a centurion that was behind a rock and keep moving under heavy fire.

"Nice shot" Kara whisper to herself after seeing Lee's shot and kept shooting at the cylons until she noticed where Lee was going "your are not going to…don't you dare…" she said and when she realized that Lee was going to the hill she added "Frak! You frakin idiot!!"

"Where are you going?" Sam asked when she started to move away.

"He needs me" Kara said without hesitation and ran towards Lee.

"Kara, don't! Kara come back!" Sam yelled but she didn't listen, she just ran avoiding the fire until she was with Lee on the hill.

"What the frak are you doing here?" Lee yelled trying to cover his fear with anger when she was right by his side. He felt his blood freeze when he saw her running in his direction.

"What am I doing here? what the frak do you think you were doing coming here without back up?" She yelled back at him. He just looked at her and frown, trying to calm down.

"We need to warn the others" He finally said.

"I know, you call them I'll cover you"

"Here" he said and threw her a cartridge of ammo. "You might need it"

"You read my mind" she smile at him and reloaded her gun.

Lee looked at her and when she was in position he ran towards the radio and made the call. Once he finished he covered himself behind a rock and started to shoot his gun.

Kara made a sign to him pointing him toward the way they should took go to the extraction point. He nodded at her and stood up to move in her way when suddenly a centurion appear from the other side of the hill.

"Lee!" Kara screamed and ran towards him shooting at the cylon.

"Kara don't!" Lee yelled at her when he saw her running out in the open, then he saw the centurion and before he could turn and shoot at it, Kara jumped over him and the last thing he heard before everything went black was a clear bullet impact, he felt the blood, her blood, spatter over his face. Before he could react they were falling down the hill, rolling and crushing against the rocks until everything was black and quiet.

To be continued.


	3. Chapter 3

Author: Marie Adama

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Characters of Battlestar Galactica. This just for fun.

Spoiler: AU Kara and Lee are in a desert planet searching for water, while the ops take place they start to remember that night in NC.

Author's note: Thanks to Squirrely for been my beta, thank you very much.

One Last Chance  
Chapter3  
"look into my heart"

Lee tried to open his eyes but he couldn't, the sharp pain in his chest didn't let him. He tried to move but his body couldn't react. All he could do was let the memories fill his mind, memories of her, before he lost her, before she was gone. And it hurt, it hurt every time he remembered that day, the day she had left him and he did nothing to prevent that from happening.

flashback  
"_No, we are just Kara and Lee…and I don't care about anything else I just want it to be with you Kara" He said and place one hand in her face " I love you so much" He added and looked at her in the eyes, he could see the hesitation in her eyes but then all the doubts disappeared and he couldn't avoid a smile.  
He bent down to kiss her, to reassert his words, to make it clear that he loved her.  
It started as a sweet and tender kiss, but it began to grow. Just to touch her set him on fire, the simple touch of her lips against his, the feeling of her bare body against his, it was intoxicating. The sensations she caused in him, she had been in his arms a couple of seconds ago but the feeling now was totally different. He needed her, he wanted her but not like he had wanted her before. The burning passion and desire that he felt for her was still there, but now he was going to take the time, he wasn't afraid anymore that he might wake up from a dream, he knew now this was real, that she was here with him._

_He kissed her softly on the neck making her giggle. He then slowly traced his way back to her mouth making her arch her back and search for his mouth only to drag him closer to her. They kissed again, a deep kiss a fight between their mouths and he let her win the fight, she softly bit his lower lip, looking at him in the eyes with this playful and sexy look that cause an immediate reaction in his body. She smiled at him, a sweet loving smile and he smiled back at her and kissed her again._

_Their bodies started to search for the other, slowly and calmly they started to move in this unwritten dance, in this perfect synchrony, that no one else would understand and that only they know that dance, they move together as if they had always known what to do. And yet feeling her under him, his bare skin in touch with hers and the soft moans that she whispered in his ear every time he moved too close, it was something that he had not even imagined in his dreams and it was taking all his self control not to give into the sensation and rush things. And so was she, without words they had understood what the other wanted and for the first time they were trying to take things slow, to make it last.  
But as soon as the rhythm started to increase, as soon as their bodies started to move faster the sensations were just too overwhelming to not let themselves get lost in them. She clenched her fingernails in his back dragging him closer to her, trying to take him to the edge where she was about to fall. And then when she was about to lose control she looked at him in the eyes, just for a second, but that was all that he needed to know that she loved him._

_They had become one in every sense, and yet they still wanted to be closer with the other, she was trying to take him to where he was leading her and he could no longer fight the desire to be there with her. He kissed her once again with passion then buried his mouth in his favorite spot on her neck, the one that he knew made her shiver.  
"Lee" she barely articulated softly in his ear and held on to him as if her life depended on it "I love you" she whispered and kissed him on the jaw line, just before she let herself go.  
And that was all that it took for him to follow her where she had gone._

Kara slowly tried to move, but she couldn't. She didn't feel her body react to her orders and all she could feel was pain. Everything seemed to spin around her and she didn't know where she was, and yet even after all that she wasn't scared. She felt secure, as if someone was taking care of her.  
She hadn't felt this exposed and yet at the same time so secure since that night.

flashback  
_He had kissed her right there, in the place that he knew would make her react. She had never felt this way, she had never wanted someone as much as she wanted him and felt so vulnerable and at the same time so secure. The feelings that she was experiencing were beyond the physical sensation, it was something more than that, it was as if for the first time she felt complete.  
She has had sex many times and she had never felt this way, not with Sam not even with Zak. Only Lee could make it her feel this way, only he could make her lower her defenses, let her totally become vulnerable and yet make her feel safe. Only he could let her be Kara, not Starbuck, not Captain Thrace, not the best flight instructor in the fleet, but just Kara with all her flaws and he still loved her. It's not that Sam or Zak didn't love her or that she didn't love them, but they loved a part of her, not her in all her frakked up complexity, Lee did and she loved him back with all his flaws too. Then she understood what she had heard many times, but never believed, that love was the best aphrodisiac. She knew many tricks and had been with men that knew many tricks too, but none of them made her feel like she was feeling now. She had never loved them, because they had never loved her back like the man that was right now with her, taking his time to make her happy to prove to her that he loved her. The man that was teaching her how to "make love" feels._

_"Lee" she barely articulated softly in his ear and held on to him as if her life depended on it "I love you" she whispered and kissed him on the jaw line, just before she let herself go, let herself fall into the overwhelming sensation, and held on to him.  
He followed her soon enough, she felt his body shiver over her and even when she was barely recovering from her own shivers she tenderly held him, letting him rest his weight against her when he no longer had control of his actions. When finally recovered she sweetly kissed him on the forehead and she could feel him smile.  
Slowly he moved until he could look in her eyes. "I love you" he whispered and softly kissed her. Then in the same slow motion he moved to the side and rested his back on the ground.  
"I love you too" She said against his cheek, then kissed him on the jaw line. He moved his arms around her and she cuddled against him, both unable to erase the smile on their faces.  
She rested her head on his chest and he placed his hands around her waist and in a matter of seconds she started to fall asleep in his arms, feeling the beat of his heart.  
_  
Kara felt the beat of his heart and she felt safe again, she tried to cuddle in his arms again, but the pain stopped her from moving.

Lee finally could open his eyes, but still couldn't focus on what he was watching. Then he immediately noticed a heavy weight over his chest that didn't allow him to breathe normally. He looked down to gaze at his chest and immediately noticed a tangle of blond hair that he recognized in a heartbeat.  
Kara, he thought with a smile but that only lasted a second until he remembered the last thing that had happened. And a cold shiver run trough his entire body.  
"Kara!" he said trying to move her but she didn't react "Kara!" he yelled almost in a panic when he was able to sit and grab her in his arms. She didn't react and all he could see was blood on her chest mixed with dust, her eyes barely open and unable to react.  
"Gods, please…please, Kara" he whispered feeling the words choking in his throat. He had never been a believer, he never prayed to the Gods for anything, but this was Kara, her blood was on his hands, she didn't react and he felt that he was losing her.

Kara once again tried to open her eyes, and all she could see were sparkles of light, but she couldn't focused her gaze. She still couldn't move her body as she wanted to, but slowly her hands started to react. And she heard a whisper, as if someone was talking to her from miles and miles away. It was his voice.  
"Lee?" she barely whispered and forced her eyes to look in the direction of his voice.  
"Kara, Kara" it was the only thing he could say when he noticed that she was still there with him, alive.  
"I'm fine" she whispered when she noticed the worry in his voice. And it was that, the fear that she could hear in his voice that make her react and start to feel her body again.  
He heard her say those words and they calmed him. That make him realize that this was not the time to be afraid, he needed to be Major Adama again, he needed to be in control again.  
"We need to take cover" he said and placed his arm on her waist and helped her to stand up. Kara tried to move but her body still wasn't reacting as well as she wanted, so Lee practically grabbed her in his arms and lead them both to a rocky formation a few meters away. He placed her on the ground carefully and stood in front of her.  
"I need to check your wounds" He said before he removed his medical kit from one of the pockets of his pants.  
"I know" Kara said trying to hide the pain that she felt in her upper left side of her chest.  
Lee bent over to her and slowly and very carefully started to remove her bullet proof vest and then the rest of her clothes, trying to ignore her pain expressions. When she was only in her sports bra Lee took the medial kit again avoiding looking at her directly.  
"You've been shot" he said examining her wound.  
"Really?" she said sarcastically biting her lower lip to cover her pain.  
"Luckily the bullet went in and out" He said unable to hide his relief when he was sure that the bullet had just went trough her left shoulder apparently without causing severe damage. But he wasn't really sure so he remained cautious and continued examining her wound.  
"I'm always lucky" she said and winked at him, he looked at her back with a frown.  
"I need to stop the bleeding, but I can't give you anything for the pain I need you to be alert"  
"What? so no happy pills for me?" she asked.  
"I'm not joking Kara, this is going to hurt like hell" Lee said seriously. "And to be honest I have never done this before I only read about it in war school"  
"Then we are going to see if the fancy education paid off" she said with one of her Starbuck smiles and then turn her back to him "Just do what you have to do, and don't worry about pain I can handle pain" she said seriously.  
"Are you sure?" He asked with concern.  
"I've been through worst Lee"  
"I know it's just that I'm not sure I…"  
"I trust in you" She said confident. Turing her head to look at him straight into the eyes and made him feel a warmth in his heart that no one else could cause. She gave him the courage he needed.  
"Ok so here we go" Lee said and took an injection from the medical kit and shot it into Kara's shoulder to then start a cure for her shoulder.  
"Frak!" Kara mumbled while clenching her jaw as Lee treated her.  
"Sorry" Lee said and kept treating her. He couldn't avoid a frown before doing his next move.  
"Holy … frak me" Kara barely mumbled because of the pain, biting her lower lip, but the pain was more powerful than what she could handle at the moment.  
Lee knew that what he was doing was hurting her, but he had to do it and it hurt him to cause her pain. Then he felt her body relax and noticed that she had lost consciousness because of the pain and probably it was for the best.  
When he finished treating her, he slowly turned her in his direction and carefully put her clothes on. He then let her rest against a rock, taking care that she was comfortable enough.  
He couldn't avoid looking at her with tenderness, with the love that he still felt for her, he wished he could hold her tight in his arms, to comfort her and make her feel safe, but he couldn't…not now, not ever.  
So he took his gun and started to check the perimeter to be sure that at the moment they were safe, turning from time to time to look at Kara to make sure that she was fine and that she was comfortable.

Kara started to wake up and the sharp pain in her left shoulder made her remember what had happened. She tried to ignore the pain and started to look around.  
"How are you feeling?" the soft voice of Lee asked.  
"Like I need a huge bottle of ambrosia and Cottle's happy pills" she said with a smirk but when his concerned look didn't fade away she looked at him in the eyes "I'm fine, really"  
"Does it hurt too much?" He asked and sat next to her.  
"Nothing I can't handle" She said with a smile. "So what's next?" she asked moving only to look at him directly.  
"Well we need to move to the emergency extraction point, do you think you can do it?" He asked and Kara only gave him a killer look "right, so we are here" he said and showed her their location on a map.  
"And we've got to move to the other side of the planet, piece a cake" she said sarcastically.  
"Not a challenge at all for Starbuck and Apollo, right?" He said raising an eyebrow.  
"Well I don't know about Apollo but for Starbuck…" she was saying when Lee softly elbowed her. "Alright, alright" She said laughing and he followed her a few seconds later.  
"Now don't you think we should start moving?" He said and stood up and offered her a hand to help her stand up too.  
"Thanks" she said when she was on her feet again, she felt a little dizzy and the pain in her chest was still there, but she had been through worst. "So we should move down the hill and keep under cover with those rock formations" she added.  
"I thought the same thing" He said with a smile.  
"Great then we should start moving" She said and checked on her side arm.  
"Here, your best" Lee said and bent down to pick up her bullet proof vest that was still on the ground, where he had left it. He took it in his hands slowly and examined it, it was still covered in her blood and then he noticed it, the bullet hole. It was as if something exploded inside of him all his worry transformed into anger, anger that was now covering the fear that he felt moments ago.  
Kara couldn't avoid a jump when she heard him throwing her vest to the ground and before she could said anything Lee was in her face.  
"What the frak were you trying to do Kara? What … what is wrong with you?" He yelled angrily.  
"What are you…" she was saying but he interrupted her.  
"What is it Kara? What are you trying to prove?"  
"I'm not trying to prove anything" she said starting to get annoyed by Lee's comments.  
"Really?" He said sarcastically and went to pick up her vest, he had to use all his self control to not throw it at her "then why did you come here wearing this piece of crap Kara? Why? When I gave specific orders to use bullet proof vests that can resist explosives rounds, and yet you came with this piece of crap that can barely take a shot from a side arm" he said and roughly placed the vest in her hand.  
"I didn't…" Kara said and avoided him by looking at the vest that she had in her hands.  
"No, of course you didn't think. You never think Kara because you are the mighty Starbuck and nothing will ever happen to you, isn't it? That's why you bring this" he said and pointed at the vest "that's why you jump back there with out thinking, because you want to prove that you…" Kara interrupted by throwing the vest back at him.  
"I didn't bring this, this is your wife's I gave her mine" she said hurt and angry "and no I don't think, you should know that by now and yes I wasn't thinking when I jumped to save you I just had to" She said and walk away from him.  
Lee stood there, trying to process what he had heard and then he remembered.  
"I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing it for him" he had heard Kara say while she was leaving the command center. She had given Dee her vest to protect her, not because she cared for her but because she cared for him and if that wasn't enough she had to jump right in front of a bullet to protect him. He felt ashamed, he shouldn't have treated her the way he did, when will he ever learn to keep his mouth shut? Not judge her before he knew the facts, he had hurt her, he knew that and he didn't know how to fix it.  
"Kara I'm…" Lee began but she interrupted him.  
"I don't want your apologies" She said and begins to put the vest on "And I don't want your help either" She said when she noticed that he was approaching her.  
Lee remained still a few steps away from her, looking at her putting her vest on trying to hide the pain that she felt, as cocky as always.  
"Are you ready to go?" He asked in a soft voice when she finally put her vest on.  
"Yes, we should get moving we have a long road to walk" She said seriously.  
"Yes we do" he said and with that they started walking without saying a word.

They had walked non stop and without saying a word, it was getting dark and cold but Kara even when she started to feel dizzy and her mouth was as dry as the planet she kept walking. She was ahead of Lee giving slow steps, she was tired and felt week but the difficult ground where they were walking make it easy to cover that, or that was what she thought.  
Lee walked behind her, he knew that she needed her space and allowed her to lead. The fact that she was hurt didn't make her weak, but he also knew that she wasn't at her best, she was walking slow and her breathing was weak, he was tempted to make her stop but he also knew that would only make her want to keep going.  
Until it happened, what he thought would happen, Kara lost her balance and he had to catch her in the air.  
"I'm fine" she said and released herself from his arms. He just looked at her  
"We should rest"  
"I can keep walking"  
"I know, but it's not safe, it's getting dark and soon we will not be able to see where we are walking and we don't know the place. So we are resting now"  
"I'm not tired" she said cocky.  
"Maybe not now, but you will be tomorrow. And I need you alert tomorrow, we will rest now. End of the discussion" Lee said with his most authoritarian voice and started to sit down.  
"Fine, what ever" Kara said and sat down.  
Lee in silence handed her his water bottle and half of his dry food emergency ration, she took them in silence and they remained in that uncomfortable silence until it was dark and they could barely see each other.  
"You should sleep" he said carefully.  
"Why me? Why don't you?" She asked in a defensive mode.  
"Because I'm not really tired, and I can do the first watch"  
"I'm not tired either"  
"Kara…" He said almost as if pleading.  
"You better wake me up when you start to feel tired" She said without looking at him, and she tried to curl the best she could, with out moving her arm. It was a cold night just like the night before, but with all the blood she had lost and the pain she was feeling, it was just worst. She tried not to shiver, but there was nothing that she could do to stop her body from doing just that.

Lee noticed immediately that she was shivering, and moved closer to her and sat right next to her making her look at him out of the corner of her eyes.  
"What?" she said tightening her jaw to stop the shivers.  
"You are freezing Kara" He said with concern.  
"No I'm not" She argued and Lee just sighed.  
"Can't you stop being so darned stubborn for once" He said and put his arm around her and brought her closer to him to share their body heat.  
"You know I can accuse you of sexual harassment Major" she said seriously and when he looked at her back, with a mixture of embarrassment and surprise, she couldn't stop her eyes from smiling at him.  
Lee just smiled back at her and hugged her tight, Kara slowly moved her head until it rested on Lee's shoulder and before she could notice she started to relax. She stopped shivering and started to feel sleepy.  
Her breath became slower and more relaxed and soon enough Lee knew she had fallen asleep, he smiled tenderly and started to look around, to be sure that there was no danger around them. Then he looked at her, she looked peaceful sleeping in his arms, her right hand placed on her side arm, he noticed and couldn't stop a smile. Her head resting perfectly on his shoulder as if they were meant to fit, he fought a sigh and returned to scanning the area for any sign of danger.

Suddenly a loud noise made him focus his attention on the sky and moved his left arm tight around Kara to protect her and his right hand moved over his gun and ready to shoot.  
Kara felt the noise too and she immediately picked her side arm up in her hand and started to look at the sky.  
"it's a …"Lee was speaking but she finished his sentence.  
"a Cylon raider" She said and they looked into each other eyes worried.

To be continued….


End file.
